Chicago, Illinois

May 2018

Before opening Bang Bang Pie & Biscuits, St. Louis native Michael Ciapciak spent time working in New York City. In 2002, he landed a job at Gramercy Tavern and eventually worked his way up to manager. He then took on the general manager role at Blue Hill and was part of the opening team at Stone Barns. He later decamped to Chicago to manage TRU.​ Ciapciak parlayed his fine-dining experience into a position as restaurant and hotel critic for Forbes. After four years of globetrotting, and now with a young family, Ciapciak decided it was time to settle down and open his own restaurant—but the type that he would visit in the days after eating at places like Jean Georges and Daniel.

In 2012, Ciapciak opened the first Bang Bang Pie & Biscuits in Logan Square (cementing his place in pot pie history ... see p. 84). At heart, it’s a corner coffee shop—just one that serves 800 folks for brunch each Saturday. In addition to sweet and pot pies and loaded biscuits, Bang Bang offers gussied-up grits and bowls of granola for the chaste. He opened a second location in Ravenswood in 2016, along with a commissary that fuels a robust wholesale program. In 2018, Ciapciak began offering employees healthcare and 401K contributions, and later this year, he and Rising Stars alum Dana Cree will launch Cree’s long-awaited ice cream concept, Pretty Cool.